Apartment builder plans mixed-use apartment tower in Little Havana

UPDATED Jan. 27, 1:45 p.m.: A multifamily developer based in Miami Beach is jumping on the Little Havana apartment boom.

Alan I. Amdur is proposing a 19-story mixed-use project on a 2.84-acre block between West Flagler Street and Northwest First Street. It will feature 719 apartments for seniors and workforce housing, 150,000 square feet of retail and 959 parking spaces.

The Miami City Commission on Thursday approved a request by Amdur’s Riverwest Miami LLC to rezone eight properties on Northwest First Street and Eighth Avenue and one parcel at 29 Northwest Ninth Avenue to increase the density from 65 units to 150 units per acre. Another nine lots on West Flagler Street and Eighth Avenue that are part of the proposed development site did not require rezoning.

In addition to providing housing to working class residents in Little Havana, Riverwest Miami could generate between 75 and 300 permanent jobs to the neighborhood, said William W. Riley, an attorney for the developer.

Riley said Riverwest is looking to bring in a national grocery chain like Aldi and a discount department store like Ross or Marshalls. “The zoning changes allow us the depth to bring in the grocery store and other big, moderately priced retailers.”

Amdur is principal of i3 Development, a company that acquired and rezoned a residential tract at 9931 West Flagler Street for $3 million in 2013, according to his LinkedIn profile. After getting the property rezoned, i3 Development sold the site two years later for $5.2 million to Johnson Development Associates, a real estate investment and development firm based in Spartanburg, Georgia. In 2016, Johnson completed a 175-unit, five-story apartment building.

Amdur’s company is also involved in deals to develop homes on 4,000 acres in Manatee County and to develop 1,200 acres in Ocala, per his LinkedIn.

Riverwest Miami joins several other major multifamily projects in the pipeline for Little Havana. Earlier this month, the city’s Urban Development Review Board approved three developments, including Mast Capital’s Miami River Walk, a 688-unit, eight-story project on 6.3 acres along the Miami River at 1001 Northwest Seventh Street.